Media content has traditionally been distributed using equipment and protocols that are application-specific, and in some cases proprietary. For example, video content has traditionally been encoded in an analog format and distributed over television networks, cable networks, satellite networks, and video cassette tapes. Special purpose capture and transmission devices are required to generate the content. Similarly, special purpose receivers and display devices are required to access the content.
The widespread digitization of media (including multimedia) content, especially by the consumer segment, coupled with the growth in digital communication networks and easier methods to transfer digital content is changing the nature of media content delivery and usage. Media content can now be captured and encoded in one or more of a plurality of digital formats (e.g., MPEG, Windows Media Format, VCD, etc.) distributed over digital networks such as the Internet or on digital media and accessed using general purpose computing equipment or special purpose equipment.
Digital computing devices play a central role in digital media production, encoding, distribution, and display. Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., USA, has developed a set of technologies to facilitate the use of digital media and the integration of digital media processing components (both hardware and software) with personal computers. MICROSOFT DIRECTSHOW is a digital media streaming architecture designed for digital audio, video and other types of digital data. DIRECTSHOW provides a high-level application model that enables independent hardware vendors (IHVs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop streaming media applications that combine and use components from possibly different vendors and run on computers using the WINDOWS brand operating system.
Additional infrastructure to facilitate the integration of digital media components is desirable to facilitate continued development in the digital media marketplace and to increase the flexibility that users and developers have to create innovative uses of those components.